Chocolate Chunk Nutella Cheesecake

Today is the posting day for this month’s Daring Bakers challenge. Of course being the airhead sleep-deprived mother-of-two that I am, I totally blanked on making this month’s challenge until I realized on Saturday that the end of the month was right around the corner. The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. The recipe is a basic cheesecake recipe and Jenny directed us to make any flavor changes or additions that we could dream up, including changing the crust if we wanted to! I made the crust and then went to make the filling and realized I had forgotten to buy cream! Doh! So I took the Fujilings to the grocery store and was finally back in business. I think I’m more daringly dorky this month . . . .
I made a bunch of mini cheesecakes in little glass custard cups and changed the crust by making a chocolate almond crust.
I flavored the batter by adding Nutella and chocolate chunks. I topped the cheesecakes with a Nutella glaze and a few slivered almonds. The crust turned out perfectly–chocolatey, but not too sweet–a nice contrast to the sweet cream cheese filling. The Nutella gave the filling just a hint of chocolate and hazelnuts which was further enhanced by the Nutella glaze. The chocolate chunks made fabulous pockets of gooey chocolate throughout the cheesecake.
Mr. Fuji is out of town for the next few days on business–BAD NEWS. Who is going to come over here and help me eat these cheesecakes so that I don’t eat them all by myself?

Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake

FM’s Chocolate Almond Crust
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup almonds, ground
6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) butter, softened
1/3 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In small mixer bowl, beat together ingredients until soft dough forms. Press into pan. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until puffed. Cool completely.

Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake Filling (adapted by Fuji Mama)
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz. each (total of 24 oz.), room temperature
1 cup/210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup/8 oz. heavy cream
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1/2 cup Nutella
12 oz. (about 2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg.

3. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and Nutella and blend until smooth and creamy. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done–this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put it in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

6. To make the Nutella glaze I just mixed some Nutella with cream until I got a consistency that I was happy with and spread it over the top of my cheesecakes before putting them into the refrigerator.

* This coming Sunday will be the start of an ENTIRE WEEK of cupcakes (aka, Cupcake Week)! I have teamed up with LollyChops to bring you an entire week of cupcake recipes and cupcake crafts! You’d better be excited, because I’ve been on a sugar high preparing for it and will probably have gained 20 pounds by the time it’s over. The things I do for you!

* Don’t forget! You have until tomorrow, Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 10:00 PM PST to enter the Furochic giveaway! (Go here for instructions on how to enter).